[Reader-list] worse than Chernobyl

[Nagraj Adve]

Date: 14 April 2011
Subject: Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to Chernobyl, But Way
Worse” by Thomas Breuer



ZCommunications | Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to Chernobyl, But
Way Worse” by Thomas Breuer | ZNet
Article<http://www.zcommunications.org/nuclear-catastrophe-in-japan-not-equal-to-chernobyl-but-way-worse-by-thomas-breuer>





<http://www.zcommunications.org/nuclear-catastrophe-in-japan-not-equal-to-chernobyl-but-way-worse-by-thomas-breuer#>
[image: Thomas3_640x480] Nuclear Catastrophe in Japan “Not Equal to
Chernobyl, But Way Worse”
------------------------------
By Thomas Breuer <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/thomasbreuer>

Source: DN!<http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/12/nuclear_catastrophe_in_japan_not_equal>
Wednesday, April 13, 2011



<http://www.zcommunications.org/sign_up>



  *AMY GOODMAN:* Japan has raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis
to the highest level, matching the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The
level 7 rating signifies a major nuclear accident. At a news conference
today, an official from the Tokyo Electric Power Company said, quote, "The
radiation leak has not stopped completely, and our concern is that it could
eventually exceed Chernobyl."

For an update on the situation, we go to Tokyo. Thomas Breuer, head of the
Climate and Energy Unit for Greenpeace Germany, joins us by*Democracy
Now!* video
stream. He’s part of a field team of radiation monitors in Japan.

Thomas Breuer, Greenpeace has been talking about the situation being more
severe for a number of weeks now. Explain what it means for Japan to lift
the crisis level from 5 to the very highest, to 7.

*THOMAS BREUER:* Yeah, Amy, maybe first of all, the idea from the INES
scale, which was introduced after the Chernobyl accident, is exactly to
inform the public in a timely manner. And Greenpeace has done calculations
with scientists already three weeks ago, where we figured out that this
accident is in a scale 7 accident. And we are wondering why the government
of Japan needs three weeks to come to the same conclusion, especially
because they must have way better data than we have. So, what it means now,
they wasted three weeks of not informing the public about the real, real
risks of this accident.

*AMY GOODMAN:* Now, though, talk about what 7 means. I mean, we’re talking
about the continuing nuclear catastrophe that’s unfolding in Japan being
equal to the worst nuclear disaster in history: Chernobyl.

*THOMAS BREUER:* So, from my point of view, it is not equal to Chernobyl, it
is way worse, because we are, like, facing three reactors totally, or
partly, destroyed. A fourth reactor has a problem with the spent fuel, which
had a huge explosion. And when we did the calculations like three weeks ago,
we figured out that, depending of course about the spread between the three
reactors, each of these reactors could be rated as a INES scale 7 accident,
because the INES scale does not even consider a multiple accident, what we
are seeing here in Fukushima. So, that is way worse than what we’ve seen in
Chernobyl. Another point there, which is very important, so in Chernobyl was
more or less rural area around the reactor. But Fukushima is in a densely
populated area, so millions of people are living around it. So, even that
makes it worse and more difficult to manage.

*AMY GOODMAN:* What do you think Japan needs to do right now?

*THOMAS BREUER:* So, there are urgency measures. So, it is now clear that,
since we did our field research, we warned the government that there are a
lot of cities and villages outside the 20-kilometers evacuation zone where
the radiation levels are so high that people need urgently to be evacuated,
especially children and pregnant women, because they are the most vulnerable
part of the population to radiation. And so, they have to do that now. They
have to screen the whole Fukushima area, where there are other hot spots
which need to be evacuated.

And then they have to—what they haven’t done so far—really, really explain
to people who are still living there what to do, how to behave. So, we were
approached from a lot of farmers during our field work, asking us whether we
can come to their fields and do food testing, because they have no idea
whether they still can eat the food or sell it or whatsoever. So, that’s a
very difficult situation. We have been in Fukushima City. That’s a city with
340,000 inhabitants, and we found very high levels of radiation in the city
all over again. But life seems to be like, on the surface, like normal life,
and it has to do with the fact that the government did not put out
information, how to behave, what to do. So people are really left alone with
this accident, which wasn’t caused by them.

*AMY GOODMAN:* Thomas Breuer, you’re in Tokyo right now, but you head the
Climate and Energy Unit for Greenpeace Germany. You’re speaking to me in the
United States, where our president, President Obama, is really pushing a
nuclear renaissance for the first time in decades, pushing for the building
of nuclear power plants. Talk about the response around the world to what’s
happened in Japan.

*THOMAS BREUER:* So, it’s not understandable how one can push for nuclear
renaissance, especially if you dig into the whole industry. It’s, first of
all, not compatible with democracy, because the open society, as we are
living in, they cannot deal with nuclear, because they are so vulnerable to
terrorism and to accidents that there will be always a clash with democracy
at the end of the day. And so, Obama should look what is happening in
Germany. So, Angela Merkel, even though she used to be quite pro-nuclear, as
well, after the accident, she understood the real risks of nuclear power
plant, and she closed down immediately eight of the 17 reactors in Germany.
And I think that’s a responsible way to deal with nuclear: it has to be
closed down.

*AMY GOODMAN:* I want to thank you, Thomas Breuer, for joining us, head of
the Climate and Energy Unit for Greenpeace Germany, part of the field team
of radiation monitors in Tokyo, Japan.